Archive for Motorsports

This is the Audi R8 GT3 codenamed R16 which was unveiled at the Essen Motor Show this week. The R8 conforms to GT3 regulations, which means its V10’s 500+ horsepower is sent to the rear wheels instead of the road-going car’s all-wheel drive. Power is transmitted via a new 6-speed sequential gearbox not from the road car, but most of the suspension is from the production line. The front end and rear end has been appropriately modified (note the huge GT wing) for greater race-worthy downforce. The price tag? 262,000 Euros including VAT.

As for the Le Mans race, Audi has something new in store. The R10 TDI will be replaced in June 2009 with a new race car called the Audi R15 TDI which will use a smaller, lighter and more efficient TDI engine. Audi promises the step from the R10 to the R15 will be significantly larger than from the R8 to the R10.

This Chevrolet Cruze WTCC car will replace the Lacetti as Chevrolet’s entry in the World Touring Car Championship for the 2009 series, powered by a 2.0 liter petrol engine. It will be prepared by RML Motorsport, who have looked after the Chevy WTCC car since 2005.

“The Cruze is a great car and feels fast straight out of the box. We are obviously still at the very early stages of development but already I can feel how much better it handles and what an advantage the car’s wider track will be in a race environment,” said British driver Rob Huff, who will be joined by Swiss racer Alain Menu and Italian driver Nicola Larini, the same trio who also drove for the Chevy team this year.

The road-going Chevrolet Cruze was launched in Korea as the Daewoo Lacetti a few weeks ago and will make its UK debut in the first half of 2009.

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The A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsports was initiated 4 years ago by its founding fathers; Arab billionaire Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum and Tony Teixeira. Let’s have a look at the history of the A1GP and how it works.

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It was a dry and sunny Sunday morning, with a healthy number of spectators awaiting the start of the Sprint Race. Neel Jani was on pole for Team Switzerland, with Team New Zealand and Team France in second and third. Unfortunately, the Sprint race was red flagged even before it started, with an incident involving Team Brazil, Team USA and Team India where all three cars retired as a result of a heavy chain accident during rolling start formation, right before crossing the start/finish line.

Drivers went around the track again behind the safety car and this time bad luck fell upon Team Briton as they suffered a gearbox problem, forcing Danny Watts to pit. As the race re-started, Neel Jani lead away without a problem and 2 laps later Fairuz Fauzy suffered a puncture at the Turn 2 as a result of a small accident with Team Republic of South Africa (RSA) as both were fighting for 8th position.

Most drivers performed their mandatory pit stops with 5 laps to go and up front Team New Zealand managed to take away second place from Team France in the pits. Unfortunately with 2 laps to go, Team New Zealand had to allow Team France to pass as the Kiwi team gained an unfair advantage during pit stop which enabled them to pass Team France in the first place. On lap 11, Swiss’s Neel Jani crossed the finish line in first, giving Team Switzerland their third consecutive Sprint race win at Sepang. Loic Duval of Team France finished in second, ahead of New Zealand’s Earl Bamber. Team Portugal, Ireland and Netherlands finished in fourth, fifth and sixth.

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A disappointed Fairuz Fauzy finished the race a lap down in 15th. With the end of the Sprint race, Team Malaysia lost it’s championship lead to Team France which has scored 35 points. Malaysia now ties with Team France with 28 points each.

With windy conditions, dark clouds were making their way towards the track as teams and drivers were getting ready for the Feature race. Team Ireland was on pole this time ahead of Team Great Briton and Team Lebanon. A1 Team Malaysia will launch from a strong fourth. Neel Jani, winner of the Sprint race will start from the very back end of the grid due to a not-so-impressive qualifying performance yesterday.

All 19 600-horse power Ferrari V8’s (with the exception of Team Korea) rumbled up as drivers started their formation lap, to get ready for the standing start of the 34 laps Feature race. The track was still dry and as soon the lights went out all cars blasted their way towards Turn 1, with India spinning into retirement. Neel Jani stalled his engine mid way through the lap, putting his race to a pre-mature end. All top four driver positions left unchanged and a lap later the scarlet Ferrari 599 safety car was deployed.

Picture by A1GP.com

The race restarted with 31 laps to go and Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy made an impressive start, stealing third place at Turn 1. Bad luck struck Team Great Briton again as Danny Watts lost his front wing on the same lap. Team France also dived into the pits to replace a punctured tire, which was good news for the local team in terms of championship standings. Adam Caroll of Team Ireland maintained the lead with Team Portugal and host Team Malaysia trailing closely behind with 27 laps to go.

As the first pit window opened, Fauzy was the first to make his mandatory stop, with quite a few cars behind doing the same. Team Malaysia had a clean and quick stop. Portugal came in a lap later and kept second place ahead of Team Malaysia and Team Netherlands. Leader Team Ireland had a good stop on lap 13. With 18 laps to go, Adam Caroll increased his lead by about five seconds from Filipe Albuquerque of Portugal.

A huge mix up for Team Malaysia occurred, possibly a communication break down, as Fairuz Fauzy “suddenly” dived into pits. No mechanical problems were apparent as he rejoined in 14th which allowed Team USA to snatch third. Apparently what happened was the radio communication systems had a malfunction and Fairuz heard a pit command that was meant for another team.

“Throughout the race my car was very strong, but I just suffered a few handling problems, nothing major though. The team called me in for the first pit stop, it was fine, and we went out in the same position again, with the same gap to second placed Portugal. After ten laps I was struggling with over steer on the car, I’m not sure why – maybe the rear tyres pressures were too high, or the rears had just gone. I tried to radio the team, got nothing, and then Box this lap, Box this lap, and then Copy that, then I boxed. When I came in I saw the team was not ready so I knew something was not right. I just had to carry on, but obviously I was very disappointed. Considering we had the extra pit stop it was a really good recovery, the car was very strong. I think if we hadn’t had the pit issue, we would have had a podium. After the last pit stop, I was running about a second quicker, it’s tough for us all,” said Fairuz Fauzy.

Picture by A1GP.com

The second pit spot window opened with 14 laps remaining and Marco Andretti was the first to pit. Team Malaysia performed their third pit stop of the day and second mandatory stop as well. John Martin of Australia took 7th place from Team RSA in the pits. Fauzy who was down in 13th was giving Team Lebanon a hard time as the duo were fighting for 12th place and he managed to pass Daniel Morad on the main straight with 8 laps to go. Team Ireland increased the gap from Team Portugal by 13 seconds with Malaysia up in 11th. Earl Bamber of New Zealand was pushing Adrian Zaugg of Team RSA whose Ferrari was dispossing a cloud of brake dust in fifth.

With only 2 laps to go, Fauzy overtook Edoardo Piscopo of Team Italy to snatch the final point giving position of 10th place. Adam Caroll who enjoyed a comfortable lead was the first to take the checkered flag, with Portugal in second and USA’s Marco Andretti took his first podium in third. Team Australia came in fourth ahead of Team RSA, after managing to keep New Zealand at bay in sixth.

Seventh spot was taken up by Felipe Guimaraes of Brazil as The Netherlands finished in eight. Ho Pin Tung was the ninth driver to cross the line for Team China. Team Malaysia made a good recovery finishing in 10th spot, scoring one crucial point. Team Monoco, India and Switzerland failed to cross the finish line and were classified as retirees.

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Fauzy said of his home race, “At the end of the day, we win, we lose, we are the one team and the most important thing is the support. At the end of the day the crowd showed me such support, I was able to use this and was able to catch and finish in the top 10. The most important thing is we scored one point; every point is like gold and will make a lot of difference towards the end of the season.”

It was really a colorful event, with mixed and unexpected results. Championship standings wise, Team Ireland is on top with 43 points. Portugal is now in second with 35 points with France in third with 31. Team Malaysia settles for fifth with 29 points for now. The A1 World Cup of Motorsports circus will now head to New Zealand for the fourth round in Taupo on the 25th of January 2009! See you next year!
Look after the jump for a set of hi-res photos, including race queens!

Story by Harvinder Singh Sidhu

Click here to read the rest of 2008/09 A1 GP at Sepang: Sunday Report

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All 20 nation representatives burned some rubber for Saturday’s Official Practice, as teams and drivers do their best to find the best set up for their Ferrari powered single seaters, in preparation for Qualifying. David Garza of Team Mexico took the top honours by recording a blistering 1′48.431 with freash set of tires; a full 5 tenths quicker than Switzerland’s Neel Jani as Frenchman Loic Duval, who stopped on track with a techinical problem was two tenths down on Jani’s best lap, setting 1′49.224 in third.

A1 Team Malaysia on the other hand rested their case outside the top ten, in eleventh. Fairuz Fauzy only managed to set a rather modest 1′50.164. Team Korea was again last for the Official Practice, but this time managed to put down 15 crucial laps as Jin Woo Hwang set 1′52.881, about 1.3 seconds adrift from Brazilian Felipe Guimares in 19th spot.

Also bear in mind that all drivers were allowed to utilise their Powerboost option for an entire lap of the Official Practice. The Powerboost option allows drivers to have an extra 60 bhp at their disposal, which can easily translate into about a second in terms of individual lap times at Sepang if used for an entire lap.

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For today’s Qualifying session, drivers were allowed to make use of the Powerboost for one of four ten-minute sessions for the first time. Best single lap from either first two sessions will determine grid positions for tomorrow’s Sprint race and the grid arrangements for the Feature race will be determined by the fastest single lap posted in one of the last two sessions.

The Qualifying session was green flagged at 2.15pm local time and wheather conditions were dry and sunny, with 66% humidity. First up was the Sprint race qualifyiing session where it was separated into two ten-minute sessions. Five minutes into the first session, red flags were waved as Team Korea’s car stalled on track in a compromising position, which disrupted Fairuz Fauzy’s hot lap.

Team Indonesia was first to set a time, of 1′52.982. Track opened with only 2 minutes 50 seconds to go, and almost all teams exited the pits at one go to set their respective times. All drivers were rushing to cross the start/finish line in time to start their laps, but atleast four teams inlcuding A1 Team Malaysia failed to cross the line in time. Team Swiss was fastest, setting 1′49.173, ahead of Team Ireland and Team Great Briton.

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In the incident-free second Sprint qualifying run, Team Swiss’s Neel Jani snatched pole in the dying seconds of the session from Team New Zealand, setting 1′47.154. Team New Zealand which utilised the Powerboost option was further pushed down to third by Team France. Team Malaysia on the other hand will start tomorrow’s Sprint race amongst the midfielders in 13th place as Fauzy suffered with some traffic on his flying lap.

After completing both sessions for the Sprint event, the final two sessions for the Feature race got under way. In the first ten-minute session, Team Ireland took the top spot with Team France and Team Australia in second and third respectively. With 10 seconds left for the final session, members of the A1 Team Malaysia were on their toes as Fauzy was still the fastest man on track, after setting 1′47.648.

However at the very end of the session, Adam Carroll snatched pole for Team Ireland with 1′47.124, with Danny Watts of Great Briton in second, and Lebanon’s Daniel Morad finished a suprising third. Good news for the local front as Fauzy will launch his car for tomorrow’s Feature race from fourth. Neel Jani of Switzerland who holds an immaculate record at the Sepang track will start way down from 16th.

Picture by A1GP.com

The Sprint race tomorrow will see all drivers perform a rolling start, with one mandatory pit stop. Drivers will start from a stand still for the Feature race, and this time drivers must perform two mandatory stops. Will the sky throw the rain card tomorrow and will A1 Team Malaysia maintain their lead in the championship? All questions will be answered by 6.15pm tomorrow.

Look after the jump for a set of hi-res photos, including race queens!

Story by Harvinder Singh Sidhu

Click here to read the rest of 2008/09 A1 GP at Sepang: Saturday Report

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The A1 GP World Cup of Motorsports is in town this weekend for the 2008/09 season’s 3rd round at the Sepang F1 Circuit!

This time round, local fans have a whole new reason to be proud of the A1 Team Malaysia, as the national team arrived at Sepang as leaders of the championship after strong performances in Netherlands and China bagging a total of 28 points.

Their closest rivals; A1 Team Ireland, and A1 Team France are 5 points adrift, both with 23 points each. This doesn’t really come as a surprise as Team Malaysia has been producing rather respectable results since the sport debuted three seasons ago.

This weekend’s event kick started with two main sessions; a rookie session and an Official Practice session. Son of Alain Prost; legendary 4 time F1 championship winner; Nicolas Prost of Team France topped the time sheets for the rookie session with a time of 1′50.679. Great Britain’s Danny Watts was about four tenths of second slower with 1′51.096 while Earl Bamber of New Zealand settled in third with 1′51.240. Leader Team Malaysia took the fourth spot with Aaron Lim steering the 600 hbp Ferrari supplied A1 racer, setting 1′51.815, about six tenths down on Bamber’s fastest time.

The afternoon Official Practice session saw Team Great Briton leading the time sheets with Danny Watts going about a second faster than his rookie session’s best time, lapping 1′50.038 after completing 13 laps. Switzerland’s Neel Jani ended today’s final session after completing 9 laps only in second with a time of 1′50.110. Former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyen of Team India posted the third fastest time with 1′50.187.

Team Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy; Sprint race winner at Zantvoort, Netherlands only managed to set 1′50.620, forcing him to settle for tenth position. The time set by Fauzy meant that there was high tension competition among the top ten drivers as all were just within 0.582 of Great Briton’s hot lap.

“I’m quite pleased with our performance this morning; it didn’t take me long to get back on the pace after my first run in Chengdu. I didn’t expect to be so quick this morning and I really enjoyed driving the new car at this track not only because it is my home track, but also because it is the type of track that suits the new A1GP car. It’s good to help the team and share my experience so that A1 Team Malaysia can be highly competitive,” said A1 Team Malaysia rookie Aaron Lim.

Slowest time of the day was set by Satrio Hermanto of Team Indonesia with 1′52.406, as Jin-Woo Hwang of Team Korea failed to put a lap down.

We will bring you updates for tomorrow’s 3rd Official Practice and Qualifying results for both Sprint and Feature races. Weather wise, the forecast is a bit on the wet side with thunderstorms expected in the afternoon. Rain and thunderstorms are also expected on Sunday morning and afternoon respectively.

Story by Harvinder Singh Sidhu

Click here to read the rest of 2008/09 A1 GP at Sepang: Friday Report

Slovakian racer Jaroslav Baranek entered a race-prepped diesel-powered Kia cee’d in the Slovak Motor Sport Association’s diesel-only hill-climb championship and managed win the championship clinching the first place in 6 out of 13 total races.

The Kia cee’d had most of its interior removed and a roll cage was fitted to make the car more rigid to help it deal with the high cornering forces of a high speed hill climb. It weighs 1,130kg. The car uses a Proflex suspension, AP Racing brakes, a Sprintfilter air filter system and an OMP fire extinguisher. The build was completed in under 12 months. Under the hood is a tuned up version of Kia’s 2.0 liter CRDi engine producing 200 horsepower and a peak torque of 400Nm.

“We managed to win with the car produced and modified in the Slovak Republic. I am very pleased that it was Kia cee’d and that we were able to win the Slovak championship with it,” said the winning driver.

The Lotus Sport 2-Eleven GT4 Supersport race car is a race-prepped Lotus 2-Eleven designed in compliance with the rules of the European SRO GT4 Supersports category.

The standard car’s supercharged engine has been upped from 255 PS to 270 PS and a marginal increase of torque from 242Nm to 247Nm, which Lotus says is thanks to “improved induction and exhaust systems, a high ratio supercharger drive system for increased levels of boost, and a remapped ECU” but with those kind of improvements I reckon it’s just thanks to the free-er flowing intake and exhaust.

The engine is mated to an LSD-equipped 6-speed sequential transmission with a centrally-mounted push/pull lever for quick gearshifts and also a gear selection display. The transmission and engine are tightly integrated, allowing automatic downshift-blipping for rev matching and flat upshifts.

HANS and FIA-approved carbon fiber Lotus Sport seats are installed matched with a Schroth 6-point race harness. Fuel is stored in a 70 litre FIA approved bag tank, and the car also has a plumbed-in fire extinguisher system. The suspension has been uprated with stiffer springs and race dampers from Ohlins that are 2-way adjustable. The rear suspension has new race-spec rear toe links.

Other equipment includes a full rollcage and for aerodynamics – a rigid tonneau cover, a carbon fibre rear wing and rear diffuser and a front splitter. As a result, 80kg of downforce is generated at speeds of 160km/h.

Only 10 units of the race car will be produced, priced at £78,255 (RM420,025 at current exchange rates) and the first cars will be delivered in March 2009. Some of the car’s specs can also be retrofitted to existing Lotus 2-Elevens.

While a select group of the world’s rich and famous are looking forward to delivery of their custom Aston Martin One-77, race teams can now look forward to purchasing the new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 racecar, based on the new 4.7 liter V8 Vantage. This model succeeds the previous 4.3L Vantage N24 car.

The new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is built to FIA GT4 specs and can compete in the following races: the FIA GT4 European Cup; British GT4 Championship; Britcar Endurance Series; German GT4 Championship; Dutch Supercar Challenge; Dutch GT4 Championship; VLN Endurance Championship at the Nurburgring; Australian Endurance Championship; the American SCCA Championship; and the Aston Martin Owners Club Race Series.

Other than the obviously larger engine, the car also gets larger front brake discs with revised cooling design and modified front uprights to give increased camber. The larger 4.7 liter V8 engine has had its ECU tuned for race use, and gets a free-flow exhaust system to let the V8 breathe and exhale without restriction. As the standard engine already has a dry-sump lubrication system to prevent oil surge during sideways motions, that is retained. Either a 6-speed manual or a Sportshift transmission can be specified.

At 1,330kg, the GT4 car is about 300 kilos lighter than the standard car, thanks to a range of weight reduction procedures which include stripping the interior bare of trim except for the fascia mounting which is rewrapped with Alcantara. The door and console casings have been replaced with new lightweight mouldings. Further race preparation include a high-strength steel rollcage, a Sabelt 6-point safety harness with a push-button release, a Lifeline Zero 360 gas fire extinguisher, and Recaro competition seats.

Also, all active safety systems are carried over from the road car – dynamic stability control, traction control, ABS and electronic brakeforce distribution, so that should help to keep the car out of trouble though like the road car, you can switch some of them off.

More images of the car available after the jump.

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The Mitsubishi Racing Lancer has emerged tops in its maiden race at the Baja Portalegre 500, piloted by Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret from France. It finished 515.16km of stages in 6 hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds, winning by a margin of 4 minutes and 3 seconds.

According to Peterhansel, the 280 PS 3.0 liter V6 motor in the Racing Lancer is a huge improvement in all areas especially the strong torque that helps bring the Racing Lancer faster out of slower turns. He also commended the chassis and the suspension, which apparently was set up very well by Mitsubishi engineers.

Second and third place were BMW X3 SUVs. I wonder if those are actual X3s or tube frames with X3-like body panels just like the Racing Lancer.

Look after the jump for two more shots of the Racing Lancer.

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